IRISH GARDENING. 



DECEMBER 



The Winter Carnation in 



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anuar 



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IN the dull dark days of winter there are now plenty 

 of beautiful flowers, even the man of moderate 

 means can have his Cattleyas, Odontoglossums and 

 Cypripediums, and within recent years the carnation 

 has been more esteemed as a winter flower. It has more 

 to recommend it even thnn the aristocratic orchid, and 

 when given the conditions it likes, its requirements are 

 really very simple and easily applied. Yet I am in a 

 position to be constantly applied to for advice as to why 

 failures have taken place after all the care possible has 

 been bestowed on the plants. One will write to say that 

 the plants g-row very well, but the flowers are so small ; 

 another, that they damp off. refusing to open. Of 

 course it is at mid-winter, and after that difficulties are 

 likely to arise. In November, and even in the early 

 days of December, It is not so difficult to obtain fine 

 flowers, but in January the vigour of the plants, which 

 has been fairly well sustained through November and 

 December, has become somewhat weakened, and 

 more care is necessary to obtain good results. 

 The foundation of success must be laid in careful 

 culture. The amateur cultivator is not likely to plant 

 out his carnations on benches, although this Is a 

 system of culture which may demand a good deal 

 of attention in the future. In a few words, the tree 

 carnation requires a rich soil and the careful hand 

 of the gardener, especially in winter ; moreover, 

 much previous preparation is necessary. An amateur 

 can go to the dealer early In autumn and he can order 

 plants large enough to flower and well set with flower 

 buds. This Is frequently done, and good results may 

 be expected, but the real amateur not only wishes to 

 flower his plants, he wants to grow them, and he must 

 give them ten to twelve months' careful attention to get 

 them up to the flowering stage. To begin with, no one 

 can have carnation flowers in winter unless they have a 

 heated house and one in which a temperature of 55 

 degrees can be kept up at night. In such a house there 

 may be a corner where a hand-light or two can be 

 placed, or a propagating frame over hot water pipes. 

 Any heated place will be suflicient to strike the slips or 

 cuttings in January. I used to strike all I required in a 

 small cucumber house under the plants. A little sand 

 is placed on the surface, the slips are inserted in the 

 sand, and the labels to mark the different varieties also 

 serve to sustain a few squares of glass laid over them, 

 and they will form roots in ten days or a little more, 

 according to the temperature of the house and the body 

 of soil in which they are inserted. When roots are 

 formed they are taken up, and each small plant is 

 carefully placed in a small flower-pot and kept growing 

 on a shelf near the glass in the house where the 

 flowering carnations are. The flowering plants ought 

 to be in six or eight-inch flower pots to obtain good 

 blooms, and they must have good soil, decayed turfy 

 loam is the best, but it must be frei^ from wireworm, as 

 this pest is fatal ; four parts of decayed turfy loam, a 



fourth part of decayed stable manure, and a fourth part 

 of leaf-mould. If the loam is sandy no sand is needed 

 to mix with it, if it is heavy loam a little sand is 

 required to keep it open, or ground oyster shells ; this 

 can be obtained from seedsmen and sundriesmen in 

 three sizes — fine, medium, or coarse. 



The plants now In very small flower pots must be 

 repotted during the spring and summer months until 

 they form the flowering plants of the dreary days of 

 winter, and so simple is the culture that, given the 

 above potting soil, clean flower pots of the various 

 sizes needed, and the ordinary attention that must be 

 given to any greenhouse plants usually grown — pelar- 

 goniums, fuchsias, chrysanthemums, &c. — the results 

 will be surprising. It takes the entire season to form a 

 really good specimen, and as the young plants must be 

 growing even in January they must be in heat during 

 the three first months of the year, and In these early 

 stages of their growth they require to be near the glass 

 roof of the house in which they are growing, and to be 

 repotted Into large flower pots as they Increase in 

 growth. Indeed It Is the fundamental principle of all 

 good cultivation to see that the plants have a frequent 

 supply of good soil for the roots and cleanliness on the 

 leaves. Green-fly Is very troublesome, but can easily 

 be destroyed by fumigating. J. Doi'GLAS. 



Gre.\t Bookha.m. 



Mr. E. Molvnelx gives In the current number of the 

 Gardeneys' Magazine a descriptive list of new Japanese 

 chrysanthemums that he recommends as really good 

 novelties. As he remarks, they are not numerous this 

 year. The following are the varieties mentioned : — 

 Miss Lillian Hall, incurved with broad florets of a 

 silvery-rose colour ; Miss Ellle Greene, with long, droop- 

 ing, graceful florets, rose-pink ; Mrs. Robert Brown, 

 with long, wide petals forming large, drooping blooms, 

 brick-red on upper and bronzy-buff" on under surface ; 

 Mrs. Charles Beckett, dwarf, with good foliage, florets 

 broad, turned up at tip, soft yellow ; Miss .\nnle NicoU, 

 pale blush ; Ella .Ainsley, with wide, reflexed flowers of 

 a rich crimson ; Kate AInsley, with large, well-fitted 

 blooms, golden, with crimson or purple stripes ; Mrs. F. C. 

 Stoop, rose-coloured ; Beecham Keeling,terra-colta red ; 

 Mary Toullon, a shell pink ; White Queen, ivory-white ; 

 George Hemming, rich amaranth ; Mrs. Trevor Williams, 

 wide florets, with twisted points, buff; Mrs. L. Thorne, 

 soft yellow. 



.As a result of the potato trials conducted during the 

 past season at the gardens of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society at WIsley, It has been found that Irish "seeds " 

 have again proved their superiority over both Scottish 

 and English. The heaviest yield was from samples 

 supplied from Mallow, Co. Cork, and the second best 

 from Hillsborough, Co. Down, the third best was from 

 Scotland, the fourth best from Co. Kildare, the fifth 

 best from Cumberland, and the rest (10 others) from 

 English sources. Taking the results as a whole, the 

 Irish tubers gave an .average crop of 123 lbs., the 

 Scottish 82 lbs., and the English and Welsh 72 lbs. 



